Witnesses to a collision that killed an 86-year-old woman have spoken of their shock at the tragedy.

The woman killed in the crash at 8pm on Thursday , who has not been named by police, was described by her neighbours in Oadby as an 86-year-old recluse who lived alone and walked to Asda every night with a supermarket trolley.

They said she had been crossing the road when a lorry turning from Brabazon Road onto the A6 towards Leicester collided with her.

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One resident who lives very close to the scene of the crash said: “It was horrific.

“We’d just returned home when it happened.

“The lorry had the green light to go but the old lady had stumbled backwards into the road.

“She just lost her balance and there was nothing he could have done.

“He was a driver from Bolton and he was absolutely in bits - I can’t imagine living with that.

“She was the tiniest little thing and she was bent double. She was a really nice lady but a bit of a recluse.

“We’d see her every day at about 7.30pm walking up past with her Asda trolley.”

Yellow lines drawn as part of the police investigation after the fatal collision

She said she rushed to get towels from her home and other people, including a grandmother who was in a car behind the lorry, helped try to give the victim CPR.

The deceased woman’s next-door neighbour, Vernon Wilson, 86, said: “We didn’t really know her to talk to. We went to see her about a big tree in her back garden when we moved in and she was very obliging and had it cut down.

“We’d just see her going up the road and I saw her in Asda only on Wednesday evening.